MANY do not realise the importance of guarding our raw water supply until it affects our survival.
To illustrate just how bad it can get – in India, cases of farmers committing suicide due to crop failure have been recorded since 1986. The reasons are many, but it ultimately leads back to compromised water supply.
Meanwhile, the city of Cape Town in South Africa almost became the first major city in the modern era to run out of water, had the entire city not banded together in a concerted effort to avert the crisis.
The major water crisis that started in 2015 was due to a combination of poor planning and crisis management, three years of drought, and high per capita water usage. The city even had a name for the day it predicted the municipal water supply would be shut off – Day Zero. Fortunately, the day never came to pass but if it had, residents would have faced a situation where they would have had to queue for their daily ration of 25 litres of water a day.
Just for context, a one-minute shower can use up to 15 litres of water.
STRICTER SURVEILLANCE
Although 70 per cent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent is fresh. And of that 2.5 per cent, only one per cent is easily accessible.
It is important to understand that fresh water is not necessarily drinkable. Most of the time, it would need to be treated first. And even then, these sources can be easily polluted by human activities or natural activities like soil erosion and landslides.
In Malaysia, rivers are a major source of raw water supply. Sadly, people do not connect rivers to their survival because all they can see is that their source-treated water comes from a tap in their homes, schools and workplaces.
Our country’s logistical system is also no longer as reliant on riverways now that we have highways and roads covering almost the entire country. The airways and seas, meanwhile, are the preferred modes of transportation for long distance journeys and postal services.
Perhaps this is why rivers are no longer regarded as important to the daily lives of Malaysians, to the point that many see it as nothing more than a garbage dump.
Aware of the gravity of the situation, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (MESTECC) is increasing surveillance and imposing heavier penalties for those caught in violation of environmental laws, starting this year.
Its minister, Yeo Bee Yin, told Bernama that MESTECC strove to double the compounds issued against those who flout the Environmental Quality Act 1974 – from RM15,000 in 2019 to RM30,000 in 2020.
In addition to that, the ministry would also take additional measures to improve surveillance on the state of rivers nationwide, such as using sensors to monitor water quality.
WATER SECURITY AFFECTS NATIONAL SECURITY
Meanwhile, a senior lecturer at the National Defence Studies Malaysia (UPNM), Dr Norhazlina Fairuz Musa Kutty, said the failure to manage water resources could affect the country’s security.
“It would first impact the people and then the state. State leaders have a responsibility to their people, and that is to protect them,” said Norhazlina, who is attached with the university’s Department of Strategic Studies.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through its 1994 Human Development Report, explained that there are seven elements categorised as the New Dimension of Human Security: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security.
The seven elements are interlinked and have a cause-effect relationship. The lack of jobs (economic security), for example, would cause a rise in crime and impact personal security.
The same thing, said Norhazlina, could also happen with the issue of the country’s water supply.
“The mismanagement of water could turn into a security issue. Let’s say there is inadequate water supply for the irrigation of plantations, paddy fields or aqua farms. How then can we expect such industries to develop?” she questioned, alluding to its impact on economic and food security.
Citing the case of Indian farmers who lost their livelihoods and were sent into massive debt due to a lack of water supply for the farming industry, she said poor water security could adversely impact a community’s personal and economic security.
A research paper entitled Agricultural Crisis and Farmers’ Suicides in India that was published in the Sept 2019 edition of the International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE) explored several causes that contributed to the rise in such cases.
Farmers in India face a number of tribulations. In addition to the high cost of farming and the low price of produce, they are also afflicted by the failure of the water supply infrastructure for agriculture.
Depleting groundwater supplies resulted in lower yields and many smallholders (with farming land less than a hectare in size) are highly dependent on loans from banks, family members and close friends. With low yields affecting income, many end up drowning in debt.
Unable to pay back creditors and burdened by the guilt of being unable to provide for their families, many made the decision to simply end their lives.
Although such cases are unheard of in Malaysia, many farmers in the country are still dependent on bank loans for their operations and so economic security is still on the line if water security is affected.
Norhazlina said that in Malaysia, a good example of the impact of poor water resource management could be illustrated by the experiences of people living around the Kelau Dam in Raub, Pahang. Despite it being a water catchment area, residents are often afflicted with water supply disruption.
She said the onus of providing this basic survival need is on the state administration. Whether water management should be privatised or not is not an issue – as long as the people continue to receive clean water supply.
However, when the source of said water supply no longer exists, the government has failed in its role in providing this basic need for its people. This will result in a chain of problems because water-related issues are multi-dimensional.
“Who can we go to when we no longer have our own water supply? We can buy our rice from Thailand because it is something you can import. Can we import water? If so, from whom? Do we want to become like Singapore? (It’s not a feasible idea because) Singapore is a small country, while we are much bigger and have 14 states to cater to,” she said.
The process of modernisation and industrialisation has led to an increase in water pollution. Sadly, many are unperturbed by this until the effects are severe, such as what happened at Sungai Kim Kim.
“We are actually destroying our own resources. It is not that we are lacking in resources – we have plenty of long rivers, but we are very poor at managing them. Corruption is rife and everything seems to be up for sale,” she said.
LESSONS FROM JAKARTA
Norhazlina said the failure to manage water resources could cause Malaysia to end up like Jakarta, which is sinking by the day.
“Jakarta is sinking 10 inches every year and it is partly due to a lack of a proper WASH (Water and Sanitation and Hygiene) system. This has caused people to bore underground for water,” she said.
The northern parts of Jakarta lack a piped water system, so millions tap into its aquifers instead. It was not only households that bore underground for water, but industries as well. For a massive city with a population equivalent to the entire of Malaysia, this would mean a lot of water.
As most of Jakarta is swampland, depleting underground water has affected soil integrity, causing the city to become one of the fastest sinking cities in the world.
By Aug 2019, its president Joko Widodo announced that the country will move its capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan due the problem.
DISASTER LAW
Norhazlina proposed that Malaysia introduce disaster law to overcome water issues plaguing the nation.
The regulation would allow coordinated efforts between relevant authorities so as to reduce bureaucracy and overlapping tasks between ministries and departments.
She said water management is an issue that requires collaborative efforts from all parties, as when a construction project is approved, it would impact the source of water around it.
Hillside projects have a huge impact on water catchment areas. Monsoon floods and flash floods are some of the effects of such projects and we have yet to reach a solution for them.
“This happens because you allow hillsides to be destroyed. Other countries have this concept where construction should not disrupt the original landscape. This is about land and water management. Without hills, we can only rely on dams. If a long season of drought like El Nino takes place, what other water resources can we rely on? In a world susceptible to the effects of climate change, we can conclude that such hillside projects are also environmental threats?” said Norhazlina.
She also believes that the government should be stricter in refusing garbage sent to Malaysia from countries abroad.
“We are already having trouble with local garbage, so we shouldn’t let our country become a dumping ground for others. The garbage ends up in our rivers, so it’s no wonder our fish are dying,” she added. – BERNAMA